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Saturday, March 19, 2016

China, Taiwan, and ... The Gambia

When I lived in The Gambia in 1984, the country had official relations with Beijing. Chinese aid workers had just completed the extensive agricultural project I was studying, while other aid teams were building four rural health clinics, a stadium, and a brick-making factory.

In 1996, after a military coup, Banjul broke relations with Beijing and established diplomatic ties with Taipei.

Then, in mid-November 2013, Banjul broke off relations with Taiwan. As the Wall Street Journal reported at the time: "Both Taipei and Beijing refuse to recognize any country that recognizes their rival, and any move by China to pursue diplomatic ties with the African nation would likely strain the bonds forged with Taipei after President Ma Ying-jeou (from the KMT party) took office in 2008 and improved relations with China."

Thus, for several years, nothing happened. Banjul had severed relations with Taipei but Beijing did not step in to embrace Banjul.

Why? Beginning in 2008, the low-key "dollar diplomacy" between Taipei and Beijing was suspended as relations between the CCP and its long-time rival KMT warmed (at least slightly). For a good analysis, see this article.

Director of the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) and Bernard L. Schwartz Professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC. Author of Will Africa Feed China? (OUP 2015); The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (OUP 2011); Chinese Aid and African Development (Macmillan 1998).